Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Let’s (also) talk about it in Japanese ~日本語でも話そう~
If you've been studying Japanese and you want to be able to talk about a wider variety of topics not covered in class or textbooks, this video may be for you.
Join me in learning how to talk about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japanese. We'll learn some important vocabulary, then look at 3 different article titles, and after that, we'll look at one paragraph from one of the articles in more detail.
The purpose of this video is to empower you, as a Japanese language learner, to widen your scope of conversation and understanding so that when you speak with friends, when you watch Japanese TV shows, or read the news in Japanese, you feel better equipped to handle important topics not covered in classrooms and study materials.
Welcome to the first instalment of "Let's talk about it in Japanese".
Before we get into it, I would like to clarify that this is a very serious topic and should be handled with care. That being said, in order to stay focused on learning, and the fact that I believe that learning should be seen as a positive thing, you will see me smile throughout this video.
If you want to practise reading out loud, if you need repetition or you want to shadow, please feel free to pause and go back to rewatch or relisten to any section you’d like. And, at the end, please share your feedback in the comments. I’d love to know if you found this video to be a helpful step toward expanding your ability to communicate in Japanese on topics that your textbooks may not include.
Some Important Vocabulary
Let's begin by going over some important vocabulary. Some of the words we're about to look at you may already know, some you may not know.
The only two cities in the world that have had an atomic bomb dropped on them are Hiroshima (広島) and Nagasaki 長崎). If you'd like your pronunciation of these two places to sound natural and native-like, use the pitch accent guides to help you. Hiroshima is a heiban word, and Nagasaki is a nakadaka word.
Atomic bomb is 原子爆弾 （げんしばくだん/genshi bakudan) but because it's a longer word, it's often shortened to 原爆 （げんばく/genbaku)
記念日（きねんび/kinenbi) - anniversary or memorial day
被爆者（ひばくしゃ/hibakusha) - bomb victim(s)
後遺症（こういしょう/kōishō) - after effect(s)
核兵器（かくへいき/kakuheiki) - nuclear weapon(s) or nuclear arms
第二次世界大戦（だいにじせかいたいせん/daijini sekai taisen) - WW2
命を失う（いのちをうしなう/inochi o ushinau) - to lose a life/lives
亡くなる（なくなる/nakunaru) - to pass away
原爆投下（げんばくとうか/genbaku tōka), 原爆を落とす（ばくだんをおとす /genbaku o otosu) - dropping of bomb(s), to drop bomb(s)
爆心地（ばくしんち/bakushinchi) - hypocenter
It’s not a thorough list of course, but these are some commonly used words when talking or reading about this topic.
Let’s Look at 3 Article Titles
Let's now look at 3 news article titles. The first one is from Asahi:
原爆のこと知っていますか 深く学ぶためのQ&A（げんばくのことをしっていますか ふかくまなぶためのQ&A/Genbaku no koto o shitte imasu ka Fukaku manabu tame no Q&A)
If 原爆 (げんばく/genbaku) is the only new word for you here, you may already know that this title means “Do you know about the atomic bomb? Q&A for deeper learning”
If you decide to check out this article to read more, you’ll see that this is part of the Q&A series by Asahi Newspaper, written for elementary school students to learn about different topics.
Let’s try another article, this time from Yomiuri:
Written for adults, this title is much longer and more complex.
長崎「原爆の日」77年被爆者らが平和への祈り…市長「核兵器使用は杞憂でなく今ある危機」（ながさき「げんばくのひ」77ねんひばくしゃらがへいわへのいのり…しちょう「かくへいきしようはきゆうでなはくいまあるきき」/Nagasaki “Genbaku no hi” Nanajū nana nen Hibakusha ra ga heiwa e no inori… Shichō “Kakuheiki shiyō wa kiyū de wa naku ima aru kiki”)
Given the words we just learned - and perhaps a couple of extra checks with a dictionary - your understanding of this title should be:
Nagasaki's "Atomic Bomb Day'" - 77 years after the bombing, survivors pray for peace... Mayor says, "The use of nuclear weapons is not a baseless concern, but a crisis today.'"
Let’s take a look at one last article, this time from WebJapan:
You can tell by the simplicity of the title and the 読み仮名（よみがな/yomigana) that this is written for children.
The title is: 原爆の日と終戦記念日（げんばくのひとしゅうせんきねんび/Genbaku no hi to shūsen kinen bi), which means “Atomic Bomb Day and the Anniversary of the End of the War”.
原爆の日（げんばくのひ/genbaku no hi) which we saw in the second and third article titles could also be translated as “the day of the atomic bombing”.
Read a Paragraph
Let’s stay on this last article and read the first paragraph. Especially if there are a lot of new words for you, I hope that having the 読み仮名（よみがな/yomigana) will be helpful. Let’s read through it -
広島と長崎の両方の爆心地は平和記念公園になっています。それぞれ8月6日と9日に、原子爆弾の犠牲者を悼み、永遠の平和を願う式典が各公園で行われます。二つの市の住民だけではなく、多くの日本人が原子爆弾を投下された唯一の国の国民として、戦争と核兵器のない世界の実現を願っています。（ひろしまとながさきのりょうほうのばくしんちはへいわきねんこうえんになっています。それぞれ8がつむいかとここのかに、げんしばくだんのぎせいしゃをいたみ、えいえんのへいわをねがうしきてんがかくこうえんでおこなわれます。ふたつのしのじゅうみんだけではなく、おおくのにほんじんが、げんしばくだんをとうかされたゆいいつのくにのこくみんとして、せんそうとかくへいきのないせかいのじつげんをねがっています。/Hiroshima to Nagasaki no ryōhō no bakushinchi wa heiwa kinen kōen ni natte imasu. Sorezore hachigatsu muika to kokonoka ni genshi bakudan no giseisha o itami, eien no heiwa o negau shikiten ga kaku kōen de okonawaremasu. Futatsu no shi no jūmin dake de wa naku, ōku no nihonjin ga genshi bakudan o tōka sareta yūitsu no kuni no kokumin to shite, sensō to kakuheiki no nai sekai no jitsugen o negatteimasu.)
You may have recognized some of the vocabulary from earlier in this video, but there may be other words that are unfamiliar to you.
Are any of these words new?
平和（へいわ/heiwa) - peace
犠牲者（ぎせいしゃ/giseisha) - victim(s)
悼む（いたむ/itamu) - to mourn
永遠（えいえん/eien) - forever
式典（しきてん/shikiten) - ceremony
各（かく/kaku) - each
唯一（ゆいいつ/yuiitsu) - only
実現（じつげん/jitsugen) - realization
And just a quick note about 唯一（ゆいいつ/yuiitsu), you’ll notice that it’s ゆいいつ (yu i i tsu) but the pronunciation is ゆういつ (yu u i tsu).
Once we put everything together, this paragraph can be translated as:
“The hypocenters of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki are presently serving as Peace Memorial Parks. On August 6th and 9th, respectively, ceremonies are held in each park to mourn the victims of the atomic bombings and pray for eternal peace. As citizens of the only country to have been hit by an atomic bomb, not only residents of the two cities, but many Japanese people, hope for a world free of war and nuclear weapons.”
These are just 3 of many news articles and other media about the atomic bombings that you can read, watch, or discuss to learn more. Some are more graphic than others, some are geared toward children, and others for adults.
Learn More
If you’re looking for non-news resources, I recommend listening to Setsuko Thurlow. She is a bilingual hibakusha, a survivor from Hiroshima who lives in Canada. And if you’re visiting Japan, I’d like to recommend the museum in Hiroshima. I’ve been a few times myself, and it’s not easy going through it, but it’s a valuable experience that you really can’t get anywhere else.
Thank you for joining me in this first instalment of "Let's talk about it in Japanese 「日本語でも話そう」” where we look at a wider range of topics, including politics and social justice, not covered in classrooms or textbooks in order to empower Japanese language learners - like yourself - so that you can widen your scope of conversation, learning, and understanding. I hope you found today’s topic meaningful.
Please feel free to share your thoughts with me in the comments below. Thank you!
